Buffy and the rest of the Scooby gang had some monster plot to stop which meant that as the newest member, you were on Dawn duty. That meant an evening of age rated films, junk food and board games.

"I don't know why Buffy won't let me join her on one little patrol... I can hold my own." Dawn dropped the dice onto the monopoly board with as little effort as she could possibly manage, expressing the 'I don't care about anything' attitude that the world had come to love from most stroppy teenagers.

"You're just a kid Dawn, patrols aren't walking the streets eating ice-cream. It's some real life and death stuff every time she leaves." She took a sad bite out of the pizza that you had ordered to try and cheer her up but it very clearly did not seem to be working.

"Everybody thinks that I'm just some dumb kid!" Dawn stood up from the floor and dropped onto the sofa.

"Nobody thinks you're a dumb kid. There's just some things that somebody of your age shouldn't have to see, Buffy... everyone is just trying to protect you." She lay on her front and held a pillow over her head but you could see the tears welling on the fabric, this was something that she had spoke to you about countless times but she never seemed to grasp the reality of the situation.

"I don't need protecting. Everybody thinks that Buffy is so special because she's the slayer."

"Dawn we think that you're special too." You tried to take the cushion from her but she held onto it, what harm was it doing anyway?

"No you don't. You think I'm just some burden that needs to be taken care of constantly, you all think I'm some big baby."

"You're not a big baby. Giles has already said that he's willing to run through some fighting stuff with you when you get older." She slowly removed the cushion from her head and sat up, wiping her eyes with her sleeves.

"But what if something happens now?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if I'm kidnapped and I wake up and I don't know where I am and Buffy can't help me." All this time you never realised or thought about how scary it must be for her, just a kid and all of this going on around her.

"You know that Buffy would never let anything happen to you... none of us would let anything happen."

~*~

Written by Aaron.